In the Company of Women

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A study of thousands of family-controlled firms in Italy found that those led by female CEOs perform better as the proportion of women on the board of directors grows. According to the researchers—Mario Daniele Amore and Alessandro Minichilli, of Milan’s Bocconi University, and Orsola Garofalo, of Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona—the presence of female directors may make female CEOs more comfortable, facilitating cooperation and information exchange.

A version of this article appeared in the June 2014 issue of Harvard Business Review.

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